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Topic: AMERICA's GOT TALENT 7 (Read 6246 times)

This year's edition of AGT will premiere May 14 on Mondays & Tuesdays 8pm EDT with new judge Howard Stern! Howie Mandel and Sharon Osbourne are returning as judge and Nick Cannon is returning as emcee. After the preliminary rounds across America, show live performances will be from Newark NJ's New Jersey Performing Arts Center, a very lovely and modern site.

I don't know either, but I have watched every AGT episode for the prior 6 seasons. I think it is a bit of a circus in preliminary rounds, but once the judges (and probably producers) make the cut to about 24 acts, then the really good performances start to emerge.

From a strategic perspective, each act has to withhold enough new material to make it through at least one preliminary round, maybe one round and maybe not in the "cut" round, and then about 4 more rounds. That's a lot of new material to keep it interesting for the judges and audience. This is a major reason why singers have won 5 out of 6 AGTs.

Howard Stern continues to be an enigma. He likes about half the acts that perform and is pretty gentle with the other half.

A trend this season is for more "join in on the fun", which has frequently in the past meant Nick Cannon but this season means some Howie Mandel and even some Howard Stern on rare occasions. Almost always, this is with performers who have already been eliminated. There is no re-judging on these.

One trend is that the variety of acts has widened. There are only a few singer/guitarists or singer/keyboard player acts, which is a very good thing.

So far, I predict that if the Britain's Got Talent opera singer Jonathan were competing in AGT7, he would coast to easy victory.

There are a lot of marginal acts going to Las Vegas. I find no purpose to this. It makes those acts feel good that they got the invite and one night in Las Vegas, but most of them are going nowhere but home immediately.

I cannot cite frontrunners. However, I do have my 3 favorite performances:

William Close - giant harp is the best single act I have seenUlysses - a singer who does corny 1970s songs expertlyDistinguished Men of Brass - a conducted brass band in tuxedos; their moves are limited but their music is fine

Of course "Freemantle...would not say how far Poe had progressed in the competition." is irrelevant because the live AGT rounds do not start until the Las Vegas round is used to take the unbelievably low degree of rejecting marginal acts in the preliminaries so many can go to Las Vegas into balance. I hope Poe gets eliminated before getting to the Hollywood rounds because he is a sleazeball. However, he does have the voice that enchanted the judges so he may get to Hollywood. However, when the public gets to vote if they know his real story they will shun him big-time.

One act that the audience and judges liked was the human cannonball. He was shot at the precise angle at 50 mph to land into a net about 100 yards away. Somebody has to be sure the calibration on that is exact, but it looked like he has technicians to make sure of that. I think this is a one-trick pony, as how to you do anything but basically repeat the first instance, but it was entertaining one time.

William Close (dude who creates his own instruments), Olate Dog (doggie act)s and David “The Bullet” Smith (shoots self out of cannon) are going STRAIGHT to the live Newark NJ shows.

Danger Acts performed – All Wheel Sports with acrobats (is it too much?), American BMX Stunt Team (a biker totally wipes out), New Guard America (A rifle team), Cristin Sandu (17 year old daredevil), Ben Blaque (Cross bow act-shoots a balloon above his assistants head with his back turned).

Female singers were next – Mary Joyner – It’s obvious that being the child of two Olympic athletes does not make one singer. She was unable to hit any high notes. Howard says she blew it. Roxy Doll, Brianna Price, Cecelia Detwiler. The judges didn’t like any of them (so how did they reach Las Vegas in the first place). Luna is next. She’s so nervous, she stops singing. She completely FUBARS her audition, so badly, the judges send her straight home from the stage. Nikki Jensen is next. She’s the first one not to completely screw up.

Dance Groups performed next – Funk Beyond Control, All That (male cloggers), Loyalty (judges didn’t like them), 787 Crew, (They make a mistake).

Novelty – Horse (Kick in the nuts guy. Can you imagine the audience voting for this act to win the finals? I can’t.), All Beef Patty (Drag queen), Joe Castillo (Sand Art, which for the second time I thought was exquisite), Todd Oliver and Irving (Ventriloquist; very funny), Light Wire Theater, Aurora Light Painters (Were intimidated after seeing Light Wire).

Classical Singers – Simply Sergio (Having voice problems, and forgets his words. He wasn’t a good singer to begin with), Luiz Meneghin (slightly better, but not a really good singer) Andrew De Leon (Male Soprano. He totally blows a big note, then stops singing due to nerves.)

There were no eliminations last night. Those will come tonight and the home audience will see how many of the set-aside acts will get the chance to perform. Given the problems we saw last night, I predict that all of the set-asides will get that chance.

So sad that Bandbaz Brothers and Ivy Rose have to be eliminated. There are more worse acts than them in my opinion but who am I to judge? hehehe.

As for Olate, Earth Harp Guy & Cannonball guy, I'm glad they get the free pass. I really hope they don't disappoint in Top 48 like last year's Squonk Opera who got free-pass but failed miserably.

For this episode, I think Nikki Jensen, Ben Blaque, All That, Aurora Light Painters, Joe Castillo could easily advance. The judges would consider Andrew De Leon giving that he's in the same situation as Poppycock in which he blew his Vegas round but still gets through.

Let's just see what the second day offers us......

Still waiting for: Mind-reader guy, the cute girl and her father who sang 'Home' in audition, the colour painter guy, and Tom Cotter.....hope they all survived....

One more thing, I really2 hope that Horse is cut.....I can't imagine Vote For The Worst have a chance to screw this show if he gets through.....

The judges decided on which performances warrant an invite to Newark New Jersey, where the live performances start next week. Jorge & Alexa were eliminated, along with all the comics except Jacob Williams and Tom Cotter. Issac Brown and Amazing Elizabeth were eliminated, but the young Latin ballroom group, Sebastien with his huge voice, and Edon are through. The one good female vocalist, I believe it was Nikki Jensen, from Monday night made it, and a lot of male vocalists were eliminated. 787 Crew and the All That! cloggers are going to New Jersey. Of the male vocalists, the young guy, Ulysses and the Joe Cocker guy are going through. All Beef Patty, and the light acts are going to New York, along with the sand art guy. Oh my god so many acts. The bayonet group was eliminated, but the BMX groups and the crossbow guy are through. Nut Hit Guy and the dog ventriloquist are through because the latter is hilarious. All classical singers were sent home.

150 contestants will perform for 20 remaining spots in New Jersey.Magic is up first:Hawley Magic, who does a double levitation. Howard wasn't impressed. Giani is a mentalist. He wrote down his "predictions" of what the three judges would say, but wrote "Bilan" instead of "Milan" for Sharon's place. "There's no place called Bilan," Sharon tells him. Touche.

Jarrett & Raja consider themselves the next Siegfried & Roy. They do large-scale illusions, and for their Vegas performance, they bring out an entire orchestra from a tiny red box. Very effective and the other magicians were intimidated.

The next category is Bands. Boy rockers, The All Ways tell us they "go crazy" when they perform, but this is not credible. Wordspit, the Illest! take a play on "New York, New York". The Hillbenders were cute. Dillon Havins and Friends was annoying but fresh.The Emily Anne Band was quite talented. The Distinguished Men of Brass were again a real treat.The danger standbys category is next. LionDanceMe is up first, and nobody jumped on anyone's head or fell. Cliff's Demo Team beat the crap out of Cliff, which I won't deny enjoying, and Kota Sports almost made razor scooters cool. Then there's this guy with the cobra who puts scorpions in his mouth. Serengeti Steve had cockroaches in his mouth, just for effect, then he took the snake out of the basket and threw it around. Lil Starr, made up a whole new tap dance. Danielle Stallings is quite good. The Cos Fam danced, and that act can only last so long before it's creepy. Tevin McGuire was good, as was Danielle Stallings.

Unity in Motion was quite exciting to watch, with their acro dancing, despite a couple mistakes. The Williams Bruthuz have stepped up their game a bit, but is it a million dollar act. They admitted that not everything went as well as they'd hoped.

There is an entire category for Aerial Acts. Summer Lacy is up first, and she switched to aerial hoop, after doing well on aerial chains in her audition. She's quite likeable, so I want her to do well. That girl is STRONG. I mean, damn, the things she can do! The other aerialists give her props, because hanging by just your neck is difficult to do.

The Benn Mendoza Circus has a lot going on. Less dancing and more aerial stuff would have improved this act. Donovan & Rebecca are the ones to beat in this category. This time they're doing an aerial rope act, and it's got a lot of danger, plus it's thrilling to watch. He spun her around on the rope; she held on with one hand. Very dangerous!

There's also an entire rap category. I can already tell you that my least favorite act in this category is the cocky The Rhymatist. For his audition, he was dressed like he was applying for a job at Target. Burton Crane is in this group, for some reason, but so is Granny G, so they can be together in their insult to the art form. Rob Hayes was understandably not excited to see them in his category. The Rhymatist was boring, Svet played the fiddle/violin as well but Burton couldn't understand him. Granny G had a special surprise for the judges that did not go over well. She ripped her dress off to reveal a burlesque outfit. On an 80 year old woman that was not a good move. Whatcha gonna do, Burton Crane? He’s going to use the identical music but in a different key.Battle Born, a breakdance group from Vegas performs first, followed by Old Shoes, New Shoes. Old tappers got it goin' on. The Lisa Clark Dancers were just strange. The Scott Brothers were the better, more entertaining, grown-up version of the Williams Bruthuz.

Inspire the Fire is a dance group, and also a show choir. They're dressed for The Sing-Off. A guy missed his flight, a girl twisted her ankle, and another girl threw up, but here they are. They're not the best dancers or singers, but they do both so that's something. Howie loves them, of course. He can bring them back for the Wild Card show.

Finally, the novelty category! No one has any idea what anyone else in this category is doing. I really enjoy Dave Girabaldi and His CMYK dance-painters. They created an Elvis portrait, and it was awesome.John Pizzi, virtual ventriloquist, was far less funny this time around. Michael Nejad plays unexpected objects, like a shovel! Very different.

Rock Star Juggler Mike Price, was as exciting as juggling can get, but The Two Bits did too. Big Barry's thing is that he's short, he wears a white suit, and he is a bad singer. If he gets through you have to wonder which judges have NO ability to spot talent of lack thereof.

Dancers Turf and Stepz make it clear how badly they each want that next round. Linsey Norton has a very similar routine to the last one. Turf notes that Stepz is using too many props and not dancing enough, but once Stepz started really dancing, it's pretty neat. Turf’s bone-breaking style is remarkable.

It's time for the judges to decide. Many children are eliminated, but not Lil Starr, Danielle Stallings, or Unity in Motion. Lindsey Norton and Elusive are moving on, along with Dave Girabaldi and His CMYKs, and Michael Nejad. Two more magic acts move forward.Many of my favorite bands were eliminated, but The All Thats, Wordspit, the Illest!, and the Distinguished Men of Brass will move forward. Inspire the Fire is moving on, but the ventriloquist and the Two Bits are eliminated. Cobra-kisser, the karate kids, and the razor scooter guys are eliminated, but LionDanceMe is in. LCD - Lisa Clark Dancers, and the Scott Brothers are going to New York. The old people rappers are not. Thank god.

The other three rappers, Summer Lacy (what?), and The Benn Mendoza Circus are ending their journey here. I'm so glad that Donovan & Rebecca are going to New York, though. They deserve it, out of anyone left in this standby group. Big Barry is moving forward because the judges cannot discern talent and Big Barry’s lack of it.Only Stepz and Turf remain, and it will almost certainly be Turf, the star of this entire two hours. Stepz is eliminated, and Turf is moving on as our hero. Because he wants it so much! We have to like someone who wants this so much that it completely crumbles them.

The categorization generally followed my ratings up until the last group.In the first grouping, Michael Nejad and and Nikki Jensen lost by audience vote and Sharise and Maurice Hayes moved ahead to the semifinals. In the second group Lil Starr and 787 Crew lost and Scott Brothers are in the semifinals.In the third group Jarrett & Raja and and BMX Stunt Design Teams are out and David Garibaldi and the CMYKs are in.The Distinguished Men of Brass were quickly sent packing. That left the 4th spot between Edon and the ventriloquist. I though the latter and his dogs were much better, but the judges get the deciding vote on #4 vs. #5 and they were unanimous for Edon.

This week's live episode had great highs and lows. It was distinguished by constant bickering between Howard Stern and Howie Mandel. I am in Howard's corner on this. Crappy acts should not be tolerated for any reason and if Howie cannot tell the difference then shame on him.

I am going to organize this to feature the best acts according to my evaluation system:

Tom Cotter, comedianDonovan & Rebecca, aerialistsBen Blaque, crossbow

The #4 and #5 acts who will be decided on by the judges are:Turf, contortionist dancer Danielle Stallings, vocalist